Safety harness



Oct. 17, 1961 N, wElssMAN 3,004,519

SAFETY HARNESS Filed Feb. 24, 1959 a JNVENTOR.

.United States Patenti() 3,004,519 l l SAFETY HARNESS Norman Weissman,304 Bay 17th St., Brooklyn 14, N.Y. Filed Feb. 24, 1959A, Ser. No.795,213 3 Claims. (Cl. 119-96) This invention relates to safetyapparatus and, more particularly, to a safety harness for children.

Ordinarily, safety harnesses for children unduly restrict the movementsof the child during use. It is therefore an object of the presentinvention to provide a novel safety harness for children that willprovide utmost safety while, at the same time, permitting the child toturn around in either direction without becoming entangled,over-burdened, or the like.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a safety harnesshaving releasable securement elements slidably carried by the waist beltof the harness, whereby the waist belt may be rotated continuouslyrelative to the stationary object upon which the securement elements arefastened.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a safetyharness for children of the type described that can be effectivelymanufactured in large quantities at a relatively low cost.

All of the foregoing and still further objects and advantages of thisinvention will become apparent from a study of the followingspecification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing,wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective View of a safety harness made in accordancewith one form of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged transverse cross sectional view taken along line2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary exploded perspective View of certainparts of the Waist belt forming a part of the present invention;

FIGURE 4 is a rear view of the assembly shown in FIGURE 3 in anassembled relationship;

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged fragmentary cross sectional View taken alongline 5 5 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of a releasable securement elementforming another part of the present in- Vention;

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view of a modified form of Vsecurementelement; and

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary perspective view of a silghtly modified formof waist belt.

Referring now to the drawing, and more particularly to FIGURES l to 6thereof, a safety harness 10 made in accordance with the presentinvention is shown to include a pair of shoulder straps 12 secured atopposite ends, by means of stitching 14 to the web 16 of the waist belt.Each shoulder strap 12 is provided with an adjustment slide 18 foradjusting the length of the shoulder straps to fit the particular childwith which the harness is used. Similar slides 28, 30 are used to adjustthe length of front and rear straps 20, 22, respectively secured atopposite ends by means of stitching 24, 26 to the front and rearportions of each shoulder strap 12.

As is more clearly shown in FIGURES 2 to 4 of the drawing, the Waistband includes a main web 16 upon which a pair of formed webs 32 aresecured, by means of stitching 34, in spaced apart relationship todefine a continuous slot 36 opening into the interior 38' thereof. A capX40 having a ball bearing 42 rotatably carried therewithin in rollingengagement with the inwardly facing surfaces of the formed webs 32extending outwardly through the slot 36 and terminates in a loop 44'with which a spring clip 46 is engaged. It will thus be observed thateach securement assembly carried by the ball cap 40 is slidablysupported upon the waist band for continuous movement in eitherdirection, so that the child secured within the harness may rotatecontinuously in either direction relative to the fixed object upon whichthe spring clips 46 are releasably secured.

The size of the waist band may be adjusted by releasing and engaging themale snap fastener 50 with any one of the longitudinally spaced apartfemale snap fasteners 52. The male snap fastener 50 extends into thespace 38 at one end 48a of the belt which also receives the opposite end4812 of the belt, in the manner shown in FIG- URE 4. It thus becomes asimple matter to adjust the size of the belt to fit any particularchild.

Referring now to FIGURE 7 of the drawing, a slightly modified form ofslide element 54 is shown to include an arcuate plate 56 of generallyrectangular shape having a stern S8 extending perpendicularly outwardlytherefrom and terminating in an eye portion 59 for attachment to thesnap fasteners 46. This slide plate presents an enlarged bearing surfaceand does not require a ball bearing of the type disclosed in FIGURE 6.

In FIGURE 8 of the drawing, a slightly modified form of waist band 60 isshown to include a main web 62 upon which preformed segments 64 aresecured, such as by rivets 65 in two spaced apart rows to define alongitudinal slot 68 extending therebetween. The outwardly offsetportions 66 of these segments 64 define an inside housing 70 withinwhich the ball cap 40 or slide plate 56 may be slidably supported. Thistype of waist belt is more flexible than the type hereinbefore describedbecause of the segmented construction, thus enabling it to more readilyconform to the body of the child during use.

The various webs 32 and segments. 64 may be constructed from varioustypes of molded plastic material so as to slidably support therespective ball elements 42' or slide plate 56 without spreading apart.As a result, the child may be comfortably secured to a stationaryobject, but yet permitted to rotate entirely in either direction withoutunnecessary interference by the spring snaps 46.

While this invention has been described with particular reference to theconstruction shown in the drawing, it is to be understood that such isnot to be construed as imparting limitations upon the invention, whichis best defined by the claims appended hereto.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. A safety harness for infants comprising, in cornbination, a waistbelt, a pair of shoulder straps permanently secured at each end todiametrically opposite sides of said waist belt, means for adjusting thediameter of said waist belt, and a pair of releasable securement meansfor attachment to a stationary object slidably carried by said waistbelt at diametrically opposite sides and adjustably limiting movement ofsaid waist belt relative to said stationary object, said means foradjusting the diameter of said waist belt comprising a channel formed atone end of said belt, and a tongue formed at the opposite end of saidbelt, said channel slidably receiving said tongue longitudinallytherewithin, releasable fasteners detachably securing the opposite endsof said belt in assembled relationship, and slides carried by each oneof said shoulder straps selectively adjusting the length thereof, saidsecurement means comprising a plurality of individual spring clips, apair of longitudinally extending and laterally spaced apart websintegral with said waist belt defining a longitudinal channel, andbearings carried by said spring clips slidably received within saidlongitudinal channel for reciprocating longitudinal movement along thelength thereof.

2. A safety harness for infants as set forth in claim l, wherein saidbearings comprise ball bearing assemblies, each one of said ball bearingassemblies being connected to one of said spring clips.

v3. A safety harness for infants as set forth in claim 1, 312,085Claghorn Feb. 10, 1885 wherein said bearings comprise a plurality ofarcuate 942,126 Backlund Dec. 7, 1909 slide plates slidably supportedwithin said channel, and 1,176,652 Clark Mar. 21, 1916 each one of saidslide plates being connected to one of 1,288,170 Pick Dec. 17, 1918 saidspring clips.` i A 5 1,930,378 Beagan Oct. 10, 1933 2,132,556 B1ackshawOct. 11, 1938 References Cited in the file of this patent 2,725,853Nordheim Dec. 6, 1955 UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTSV 'i 278,310Bierbach i May 29, 1883 1b 35,387 Germany -Apr.24,1886

